JHU to support UPFA to form a government

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2004, 16:17 GMT]The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) said Friday that it would support the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) to form a government without depending on other minority parties who call themselves as "kingmakers" in the country's politics. JHU has nine parliamentarians, all Buddhist monks, including two national list members in the new parliament. The current parliamentary strength of the UPFA is 105. The UPFA needs the support of eight parliamentarians to prove its simple majority in the 225 member-new parliament, political sources said.

JHU leader Ven Ellawella Methananda Thera told President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge when he met her Thursday at the Presidential House that his party would see that the UPFA government would not be defeated if it formed without the support of the opportunist political parties, political sources said.

He said the JHU will sit in the opposition but would not allow the UPFA government to be defeated, sources said.

Meanwhile, the National Patriotic Movement (NPM) has appealed to the Jathika Hela Urumaya to support the UPFA to establish a government with stability. Otherwise the UPFA would be forced to depend on the Ceylon Workers Congress led by Mr.Arumugam Thondaman and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress led by Mr.Rauff Hakeem, the NPM in an appeal to JHU said.